February 2020 - 14

He started playing on
George Rosenkranz's
Event
Place
Points
team with Piotr
Vanderbilt KO Teams
5-8
80.00
Gawrys, with whom
Jacoby Open Swiss Teams
17
22.73
he won his first NABC
von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs
5
81.43
title in 2001. He later
Spingold KO Teams
1
250.00
played with Lev on
Soloway KO Teams
1
250.00
Reese Milner's team,
Reisinger BAM Teams
2
150.00
and then on the Jim
Total 834.16
Mahaffey and Mark
Gordon teams before
joining with Blass the past four years.
That brought Pepsi's platinum haul to
"It's a great joy playing with him,"
834.16.
Blass said. "He's extremely self-asIn Josef Blass's lone outing last year,
sured. It makes an impression on oppothe Vanderbilt, the team lost a close
nents, and he's treated with incredible
quarterfinal match to the eventual
winners, giving the Wolfson team their respect by all. He's a great teammate.
There's a very good atmosphere on the
toughest match en route to the title.
team. He's liked by everyone. He truly
Blass was also playing when they won
the Jacoby Open Swiss Teams in 2018. deserves it."
Blass, the inventor of the 401(k)
He kept in close contact with the team
during the events he sat out, Pepsi said retirement plan, was once nominated
for a Nobel Prize in economics. He and
while spending the holidays in Poland.
Pepsi met 15 years ago and have devel"Josef wasn't present but he was with
oped 250 pages of system notes. "He's
us all the time. He was for sure a very
big part of the team's success this year." an extremely smart man," Pepsi said.
"He's so nice and he works so much
Pepsi has won eight NABC titles
on bridge." Blass has recently finished
and two world championships, includchemotherapy and may return to playing the 2017 Bermuda Bowl, when he
ing in Columbus.
played with Michael Rosenberg on
Pepsi and his wife, Olga, live in
Marty Fleisher's team.
Pepsi, 52, was born in Lublin, Poland, Chapel Hill. They have a son, Jakub,
in college and two daughters, Zuzanna
a major city with a substantial student
population, 100 miles southeast of
Warsaw. "Nobody in my family knew
Player of the Year leaders
what bridge was," he said. When he
was 12, he learned the game at a youth
1. Jacek Pszczola, Chapel Hill NC
834.16
camp and then played with friends
2. Sebastiaan Drijver, Switzerland
752.73
during high school. By the time he
Michal Nowosadzki, Poland
752.73
was at the university in Lublin, where
Sjoert Brink, Switzerland
752.73
he earned a master's degree in engiJacek Kalita, Poland
752.73
neering, he had made Poland's Junior
6. Ralph Katz, Burr Ridge IL
655.03
national team.
7. Michael Becker, Boca Raton FL
653.24
He won his first world champion8. Nick Nickell, New York NY
652.91
9. Jeff Meckstroth,
ship, the World Open Pairs, in 1998,
Clearwater Beach FL
617.08
with Michal Kwiecien. Commentators
10. Vincent Demuy,
in Lille were unable to pronounce his
Palm Beach Gardens FL
590.31
formidable last name and changed
11. Robert Levin, Henderson NV
575.03
it to Pepsicola, which originated his
Steve Weinstein, Montclair NJ
575.03
nickname.
13. Dennis Bilde, Denmark
572.62
The following year, Sam Lev helped
14. Roger Lee, Las Vegas NV
567.28
him begin playing in the United States.
15. Eric Rodwell, Clearwater FL
562.53

Where Pszczola earned his platinum points in 2019

14 Bridge Bulletin February 2020

and Szymon, in high school.
"It's absolutely amazing," Pepsi said
of winning Player of the Year. "I'm so
happy about it."
Here is Pepsi in action during the
quarterfinal of the Soloway KO versus
the Spector team (Warren Spector,
Gavin Wolpert, Vincent Demuy, John
Kranyak, John Hurd, Joel Wooldridge).
Dlr: North ♠ A 8 5 3
Vul: E-W ♥ 2
♦8642
♣9876
♠ 10 6 4
♥ Q 10 9 4 3
♦ K J 10
♣52
♠KJ2
♥AJ76
♦Q753
♣Q3
West North
Kalita Kranyak
Pass
1♦(1) Pass
3NT All Pass

♠Q97
♥K85
♦A9
♣ A K J 10 4

East
Pepsi
1♣
2NT

South
Demuy
Dbl
Pass

(1) Four or five hearts
South led a low diamond. Pepsi
overtook the 10 with his ace and led the
♥K. When it held, he continued the
♥8. When South ducked again, Pepsi
let it ride, and North discarded the
♦8. Demuy, who was then leading the
Player of the Year race, won the third
heart and switched to the ♠J. Kranyak
won the ace and returned a spade to
his partner's king, at which point Pepsi
claimed the rest of the tricks.
At the other table, Wolpert and
Spector stopped in 2NT. The play
started similarly with Wolpert overtaking the diamond and advancing
the ♥K followed by the ♥8. But on
the second heart, Wolpert went up
with the queen to take the losing club
finesse. Brink got out with a low spade
and Drijver returned a spade to his
partner's ♠K J. Brink cashed two
hearts to set the contract one.
◾

February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020